EAU CLAIRE (Press Release) — The UW System Board of Regents approved Aug. 23 the UW
System 2013-15 biennial capital budget request, which included
construction of a new residence hall and the redevelopment of Garfield
Avenue on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus.
The approved request will now go to the state Department of
Administration and be combined with requests from other agencies for
inclusion in Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal.
Both UW-Eau Claire projects included in the request are part of the university's 20-year campus facilities master plan.
Plans for a third UW-Eau Claire-related facilities project, The
Confluence Project, will be presented to the regents at their October
meeting.
Residence hall
The $33 million residence hall project will construct a four-story,
350-bed, semi-suite-style residence hall of approximately 151,000 square
feet on the current site of the Governors Hall parking lot and tennis
courts on upper campus. There are provisions to add a wing as a second
phase if the site permits.
The residence hall will have an approximate 75 percent to 25 percent
mix of four-person single-room suites and four-person double-room
suites, with each suite sharing a bathroom. Depending on a feasibility
analysis, the project may include underground parking beneath the
building. A facilities condition assessment will be done for Horan Hall
to determine whether it should be demolished to provide a larger site
for a future phase.
This will be the first suite-style residence hall on the UW-Eau
Claire campus. A comprehensive housing demand study conducted as part of
the 20-year campus facilities master plan demonstrated strong demand
for suite-style residence halls to provide students with more varied
university housing options.
The residence hall will be funded through room rent paid by students.
Garfield Avenue redevelopment
This $12.4 million project, which will convert Garfield Avenue into a
mall area for pedestrians and bicyclists with access for emergency and
service vehicles, will extend from just west of Hibbard Hall to the
Putnam parking lot at the base of the campus hill. Work will include the
replacement of the roadway surface, curb and gutter, sidewalks,
lighting and subsurface utilities. The roadway alignment will be
adjusted to allow for the extension of the south approach to the campus
footbridge that spans the Chippewa River. The newly configured approach
will include improvements for pedestrian and bicyclist safety and
handicapped accessibility.
The Garfield Avenue corridor will be improved with new bike parking,
plazas and landscaping. Replacement of the Putnam parking lot with an
outdoor classroom is another goal of this project.
The Garfield Avenue redevelopment also will include the renovation of
the Roosevelt Avenue cul de sac just south of Schneider Hall,
construction of a campus gateway and construction of accessible parking
to replace parking that will be lost when Garfield Avenue is improved.
The Garfield Avenue project will be funded through a combination of
general purpose revenue, program revenue and gifts through the UW-Eau
Claire Foundation.
The Confluence Project
Because planning is ongoing, UW-Eau Claire facilities that are a part
of The Confluence project will be considered during the UW System Board
of Regents meeting Oct. 4-5 at UW-Stout in Menomonie.
The Confluence Project is planned on property commonly referred to as
the "Haymarket site" at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire
rivers in downtown Eau Claire. The site along Eau Claire Street and
Graham Avenue consists of the Farmers Store and Market Square buildings
that border the downtown Haymarket parking lot.
The project includes a community arts center and a mixed-use
development consisting of retail/commercial space, public parking and
apartment-style university student housing for 300 to 370 people.
Expanding the site to include buildings along South Barstow Street to
allow for additional commercial space also is being considered.
As envisioned, the community arts center of approximately 150,000
square feet would serve the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council, community
performing and fine arts organizations, and UW-Eau Claire. Preliminary
plans for the community arts center include:
- Three distinct performance spaces: a 1,200- to 1,500-seat theater to
replace downtown Eau Claire's obsolete State Theatre; a 450-seat
theater to replace UW-Eau Claire's aging Kjer Theatre; and a 250-seat
black-box-style venue
- Scene and costume shops
- Dressing rooms and other "back-of-house" operations
- Fine arts studios, gallery space and dance studio space
- Classrooms and rehearsal rooms
- Offices for ECRAC, community arts organizations and select university faculty and staff in the fine and performing arts
